Underdogs
by Lex of Light
Summary: It's not always about the Greil Mercs, the Dawn Brigade is also there... somewhere.


_A/N: In which I fool myslef into thinking that I'm funny and/or clever._

_What's written here does not necesarily reflect upon the author's opinion(s). This was written solely for entertainment purposes._

_Enjoy!_

Underdogs

Bards and troubadours have always sung of the grand, majestic, and exciting adventures of the heroes that graced the land of Tellius with their heroics traits – and of course, manliness included. Many told the stories of how a simple mercenary defeated the Mad King of Daein, others dramatized the battles of the Divine Knight known as Gawain, and Captain Kieran of the Crimean Royal Knights… liked to imagine and shout stories about Captain Kieran of the Crimean Royal Knights. But there was also a fine group of overlooked heroes that were just as brave and bold as the Steadfast Four Riders of Daein or even the famous Greil Mercenaries, and they were simply known as the Dawn Brigade.

The marvellous freedom fighters of the Dawn Brigade were a group of young warriors – and Nolan – that stood up for their beloved country of Daein when all hope had been crushed by the evil country – but not really – of Begnion. These few but brave souls took arms against the most powerful nation in the continent… even they were surprised to have lived for more than a day, but then again, all the good Begnion soldiers were doing absolutely nothing of the upmost importance with General Zelgius...

There were several members within the Dawn Brigade. Not all joined at the same time. In fact, Sir Aran was the last to join the virtuous rebels. Sir Aran had once been an enemy of the Dawn Brigade, for he had been a footsoldier of the Begnion Empire. Thankfully, he had a mysterious change of heart while being engaged in battle with the Daein rebels. He said he wanted to leave his service to the empire because he couldn't stand being a part of the oppression, but the truth of the matter was that Sir Aran was sick of those imperial heathens always pulling pranks on him – his bunkmates once painted his armour blue, in order to make him look silly. Through his defection, the Dawn Brigade gained a strong and sturdy soldier, whose strength and endurance proved invaluable in the battlefield. His excellent combat performance had been good enough to make up for his lack of personality.

The person who recruited Sir Aran was someone who had joined briefly before him. Her name was Father Laura… or Sister Laura… but many just called her the girl that could use staves. The odd thing about her was that _she _was a _priest, _which of course made everyone very confused, some had even accused her of being a hermaphrodite. Though she was nothing of the sort, matters had simply become complicated within the Church of Ashera and women were being allowed to become priests for two reasons: one, some genius somewhere thought that it would be a good idea to demand clerics to use swords, making it pretty difficult for women to be clerics; and the second reason was the drastic shortage of clergymen, for it seemed to be mandatory to kill these defenceless poor men that can't fight in battle.

The she-priest had been a most welcomed addition to the Dawn Brigade, mostly because someone needed to heal them. After she had joined, everyone wondered how they had even survived without her, and why hadn't they thought of having someone like her from the very beginning. It was proof that luck was real.

Sir Aran and the she-priest were the last to join, and the remaining five members had formed their very small army in some dark and dirty alley in Nevassa – just like the manliest heroes did in the most epic of fables.

One of these original members was the archer called Leonardo. Everyone loved Leonardo, and his role was one that absolutely no one could possibly accomplish, for he was tasked with making everyone else feel better about themselves, but he wasn't aware of that. And no one thought that his cancel skill was useless in an archer such as himself, the others simply took his cancel scroll from him because they needed it more than him, after all, he was Leonardo, the undisputed third best non-generic archer in Tellius.

Leonardo's best friend and brother-in-arms was the overconfident Edward. Even freedom fighters need a comedic relief, no? Edward's companion used to laugh at his antics and idiotic outbursts, and before every battle, they would bet if Edward would make something reckless that would cost him his life. A certain fortune-teller was never wrong in her bets.

Then there was Nolan, but his full name was Chuck Nolan the Manly. Nolan was fortunate that Begnion had not been very efficient in enforcing the law, for they would've noticed something odd about a grown man that spent all his time with a bunch of kids. Nolan had been a street tramp before being guided in the direction of righteousness and epicness, and he went from being the odd fellow that screamed, "Hey, kid, get the hell off my lawn," to a man who fought on the side of justice! And there was something about Nolan that made him truly special, and it wasn't the fact that he was cunning and shrewd, strong and fast, or even cool and collected in tough situations; what made Nolan a god amongst men was the fact that he had facial hair, for only a handful of blessed individuals in Tellius had been allowed by Ashera to grow a beard or a moustache, yet Nolan had both beard _and_ moustache, which obviously made him the perfect messiah of justice that Daein needed in its hour of need.

Despite Nolan's greatness, he was not the most experienced in the art of war. Young Sothe had fought under the Crimean banner during the Mad King's War. Whilst being a part of the Crimean Liberation Army, Sothe studied in the ways of manliness from none other than General Ike himself. General Ike didn't teach him how to fight because Sothe fought with knives and Ike himself preferred to use swords, but the invaluable lesson General Ike passed on to young Sothe was that "A man must always show his muscles." And Sothe was not shy when it came revealing just how fit he was – which made General Ike grow weary of his pupil, so he worked twice as hard, and grew three times his original size because of it.

Though, it was most unfortunate for Sothe that the only women around him that could appreciate his well-toned torso were a she-priest and a fortune-teller that pretended to be a saint. Sothe was a kind-hearted young man with some faults, such as being overprotective and always being in the presence of the woman he loved ever so much. If she had not been blinded by his manly muscles, she probably would've thought him a stalker.

But there was someone amongst the Dawn Brigade that shined even brighter than the rest of them, and her name was Micaiah. It was not her fault that she shined more than the rest of her companions – she had not asked to have bright and shiny silver hair. Micaiah's silver hair was a big issue; maybe she wouldn't have been so famous had she been born with a less flamboyant hair colour, such as crimson, green, or even pink. But Micaiah was much, much more than a pretty girl with shiny hair. Micaiah was the perfect girl that everyone in _Tellius_ – even most of her enemies – loved and respected deeply. But most people _outside _of Tellius had… mixed feelings about her. Some people were truly mean to her and called her ugly – but extremely clever – names. One of Micaiah's most popular nicknames was Failcaiah – a nickname created for the purpose of highlighting the fact that she was strong with the power of fail.

The use of words enough describe just how of an fine example these heroes were…

Too bad they received no sympathy from Ike.


End file.
